Tag Archives: direct mailing

In today’s digital world, some people find it hard to believe that direct mail is still a practical option for companies looking to run a marketing campaign. If you’ve been considering using direct mail for a campaign, you might be asking a bunch of important questions. Isn’t email faster and cheaper? Aren’t people always on their computers and phones? Do people read mail anymore? These are logical concerns, but direct mail still works just as well, if not better, than it once did. Here are a few good reasons why direct mail isn’t going anywhere any time soon, and why you should still run a mail campaign.

In order to understand digital overload, think about how much email you receive in a single day. There’s so much competition when it comes to email marketing, how can you be sure your emails will even be opened? I’m not saying you should give up email marketing all together, but currently direct mail offers specific advantages that could add to your overall marketing strategy. A particularly useful advantage that direct mail offers is that it allows you to bypass the digital overload that we’re currently experiencing and approach your target audience in a refreshing way. If you’re anything like me, direct mail catches my attention more than most of the emails I receive on a daily basis.

Running a direct mail postcard campaign not only helps you foster a relationship with your current customers, it also helps you bring in new business and test the effectiveness of your marketing strategies. Choosing the right direct mail piece is crucial for designing a simple and cost-effective direct mail campaign, and postcards are often the best choice, especially if this is your first foray into the world of direct mail. Whether you’re connecting with existing customers or you’re looking to target new ones, using postcards as your direct mail piece will help you build a profitable campaign. Here are a few benefits to choosing postcards for your next direct mail campaign.

Provides a low-cost option for small business marketing

If you’re a small business and you want to run a marketing campaign, you might think that direct mail is too expensive for you. However, postcards are actually quite cost-effective, and generate very high ROI. The truth is, people still love getting physical mail. Using postcards instead of more complex direct mail pieces will help you save money while still allowing your company to benefit from direct mail marketing campaigns. You’ll cut down on postage costs and still be able to build your brand just as effectively as other direct mail pieces.

Running a direct mail campaign can often yield incredible results and kick-start an effective marketing campaign for your company—if you put in the right amount of time and attention. Not only are direct mail campaigns effective at putting your business in the front of your customers’ minds, they can also help you create a well-rounded marketing strategy for your company. However, there are a few common direct mail mistakes that can detract from the full impact of your campaign and lessen profitability. If you keep these 5 common direct mail mistakes in mind, you’ll be able to avoid them and ensure you carry out the most successful campaign possible.

Not taking the time to plan

If you don’t spend enough time planning your direct mail piece, there’s a good chance it could negatively affect your campaign. With poor planning, you run the risk of producing a campaign that looks rushed, and there’s a chance you’ll miss important details. You should have a strong idea of what you want to send out—a postcard, a newsletter, coupons, etc.—and you should have an offer or promotion in mind. Why are you sending out this direct mail piece? What goal do you want to achieve? How will you entice potential customers? Plan these things out before you start moving forward with your direct mail campaign.

Coming up with ideas for your direct marketing campaign can be difficult, especially when you want to avoid doing the same thing over and over again. Not only do you want to catch the attention of potential customers, but you want to get them talking and sharing their experience with others. This can be difficult to pull off, but with a little creativity—it’s all possible! If you’re looking for a way to spruce up your direct marketing campaigns, perhaps these companies and artists can give you some inspiration through their own direct mail creatives.

IKEA Flat Pack

Although this marketing campaign wasn’t used by IKEA, it was an ingenious direct mail creative designed by Leo Rosa Borges. The clever pop-up of a bedroom set shows customers a 3D version of how the furniture would look. It’s an excellent way to advertise products that require assembly and it would certainly get people talking. (1)

For a while, it seemed like I couldn’t go two days without hearing about some amazing deal one of my friends got on a daily deal site like Groupon or Living Social. Daily deals were all the rage, and businesses were raving about the enormous boost in business they had been seeing. However, as time has passed and many of those businesses have faded away, people have begun questioning the efficacy of these daily deal sites. Amidst all the debate, one thing has become crystal clear: Direct mail coupons are, and always were, much more effective at creating loyal, repeat customers. Why does direct mail have such a distinct advantage over online deals in the coupon world?

While daily deal sites seemed to flourish for a time, it is now well-known that daily deals have driven many a business into the ground because, rather than attracting new customers who then develop into repeat customers, these online coupons merely attract “deal hunters”. These deal hunters are loyal to one thing, and one thing only: Discounts. While businesses that utilized these daily deal sites usually experienced a boom in business after offering a coupon, very few of these new customers ever converted into repeat customers. They were busy hunting for their next deal, and were never prepared to pay full price in the first place. This translated into huge losses for these businesses.

In order to maintain the integrity of our data, we must limit the use of our mailing lists. You can purchase a multiple-use mailing list if you intend to do multiple mailing campaigns, but at a slightly higher price. Be wary of any list company who will sell you a list without these types of use restrictions. Their data is often “beat up” and this will show in your response. Almost 20 percent of America has some kind of change in their contact information every year. Not only will an old and beat up list produce lower response rates but it will also waste lots of postage on undeliverable mail. US Data Corporation compiles and updates data freshly, all day and every day. The amount of data hygiene we perform so far exceeds industry norms that we are often accused of overkill. Even on lists acquired for multiple use we require our clients to update their files monthly to act in accordance with the National Do-Not-Call Registry Guidelines. Every time you call a person on the Do-Not-Call Registry, you could be fined up to $11,000, so it is in everyone’s best interest to keep your list updated and clean.

What sort of information will I receive with each mailing list record?

The short answer is “every list is different”. Generally, we have a set of base “selects” that come with every file and additional selects can be added for an additional charge. Our General Consumer file, Mortgage Database and Timeshare Database come with Name and Address. Our General Business List file comes with Company Name, Address, SIC Code, SIC Code Description, Key Decision Maker Name and Phone. If you are purchasing a Specialty Mailing List or you are interested in more than what comes with the base list price, please ask your list expert to go over what additional selects are available and what the pricing is for each. It is our goal to set your expectations correctly from the start so you don’t feel you’ve been led astray.

Do you guarantee your data?

Yes we do! Our 100% guarantee is as follows:

If our lists do not exceed industry standards for accuracy we will replace the defective data 100%.

So nobody is confused, here are the four specific standards relevant to US Data Corporation’s Guarantee:

* 95% USPS Mail Deliverability Rate or Higher

* 85% Telephonic Contact Rate or Higher

* 100% Address Standardization

* 100% Regulatory Compliance

If you receive anything less than a 95% deliverability rate on your mailing campaign or 85% contact rate on your telemarketing campaign, we will replace that poor-performing data at no cost. To be clear, we will not replace the entire mailing list, just the poor-performing data. The reason why we have these guarantees is because we are so certain that our data will exceed these goals and your list will be the absolute best in the industry.

Are you the source of the data or a broker?

We are both a data compiler (which means we are the source of the data) and a data amalgamator (which means we bring in outside sources of data). We, by no means, believe our data is the ONLY high quality data out there, so US Data Corporation regularly pulls in data from outside sources to ensure we are providing the best data in the industry. The relationships we have made over the decades we’ve been in the list industry are amongst our strongest attributes. We know all of the major data sources and they know us. We know which data sources maintain the same level of quality as we do and which data sources are producing good results. Naturally the benefits of our knowledge and relationships is passed along to our clients in the form of greater ROI. ALL of our data passes through the US Data Corporation 5 Step Data Hygiene Process and our Multiple Verification Process, so there will never be a difference between the quality of our in-house data and that which we have outsourced.

Where are you located? Do you have multiple offices?

US Data Corporation was founded in Omaha, Nebraska, the data capital of the world. Our corporate office is located in Omaha still and we have about 35 employees in this location. Back in 2006, we opened a second branch in sunny Southern California
(Agoura Hills, CA) and this office holds about 15 employees. We are continually growing and moving into new avenues in order to bring the most current and best performing marketing services in the industry to our clients.

Trust US Data Corporation for your mailing lists. Call 888-610-3282 or Click Here to submit a form for a free, no obligation quote!

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